Feast of Saint Thomas, apostle
(Ephesians 2:19-22; John 20:24-29)
A debate in the philosophy of science centers around the
question of the existence of spiritual being.
Some philosophers hold that matter is all that there is. They try to reduce the mind to the material
functions of the brain. More traditional
thinkers respond saying matter alone cannot account for the marvelous capacity
of thought. Of course, the question
bears heavily on faith which Jesus addresses in today’s gospel.
Thomas appears to be a materialist demanding to touch the
body of Jesus before accepting his resurrection as fact. Jesus gives him the opportunity to do so, but
does Thomas actually go ahead with the experiment? Although Caravaggio in a famous painting
portrays Thomas as probing the Lord’s side, the Scripture does not say so. Indeed the passage indicates that he does not
when Jesus says that Thomas believes only with seeing as the other disciples.
The passage ends with Jesus giving Christians through the
centuries a blessing for believing in the resurrection without even seeing him. Because our times more than most challenge
such belief, we need to support the faith of one another.
